Modified ADM1 for modelling an UASB reactor laboratory plant treating starch wastewater and synthetic substrate load tests.

A laboratory plant consisting of two UASB reactors was used for the treatment of industrial wastewater from the wheat starch industry. Several load tests were carried out with starch wastewater and the synthetic substrates glucose, acetate, cellulose, butyrate and propionate to observe the impact of changing loads on gas yield and effluent quality. The measurement data sets were used for calibration and validation of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1). For a precise simulation of the detected glucose degradation during load tests with starch wastewater and glucose, it was necessary to incorporate the complete lactic acid fermentation into the ADM1, which contains the formation and degradation of lactate and a non-competitive inhibition function. The modelling results of both reactors based on the modified ADM1 confirm an accurate calculation of the produced gas and the effluent concentrations. Especially, the modelled lactate effluent concentrations for the load cases are similar to the measurements and justified by literature.

The valuation of malnutrition in the mono-digestion of maize silage by anaerobic batch tests.

Anaerobic digestion is a technology which is used to produce methane from organic solids and energy crops. Especially in recent years, the fermentation of energy crops has become more and more important because of increasing costs for energy and special benefits for renewable energy sources in Germany. Anaerobic bacteria require macro and micro nutrients to grow. Absence of these elements can inhibit the anaerobic process significantly. In particular mono-substrates like maize or certain industrial wastewater often cannot provide all required nutrients. For this reason this research investigates the influence of substrate and trace elements on anaerobic digestion in detail. Different agricultural anaerobic biomasses are analysed with special regard to their trace element content. Based on these results, the influence of three trace elements (iron, cobalt, and nickel) on anaerobic digestion was studied in anaerobic batch tests at different sludge loading rates and for different substrates (maize and acetate). Biogas production was found to be 35% for maize silage and up to 70% higher for acetate with trace element dosage than in the reference reactor.